Lock decks are powerful, annoying, and extremely fun to play with and against. They require using different strategies from the norm, and creative use of Supporters. One of the most common lock decks in the last format was Cursegar, which switched a Gengar out with a Spiritomb (AR). This deck is similar, but it does higher damage, is still fast without Claydol, and has some great Poke-bodies to support it. Let’s take a look at Magnelock.
On a personal note: I ran this deck, but I only had a few of the cards, so I printed off proxies and used them in some friendly matches at my league. My best friend joked about all of the proxies, so I dubbed the deck “Dr. Proxy”, and it retains that name for me today.
Deck List:
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Pokemon: 3-2-3 (SF 67/100) (SF 43/100) (SF 6/100) Magnezone LV.X (LA) 3 Uxie (LA) 3 Spiritomb (AR) 1 Azelf (LA) 2 Unown Q (MD) |
Trainers/Suppoerter/Stadiums: 2 Super Scoop Up 1 Luxury Ball 2 Pokemon Communication 3 Pokemon Reversal 2 Expert Belt 3 Rare Candy 4 Judge 2 Bebe’s Search 2 Interviewer’s Questions 3 Pokemon Collector 2 Palmer’s Contribution 1 Prof. Oaks New Theory 2 Broken Time-Space |
Energy: 6 Lightning 2 Metal 4 Double Colorless |
Strategy:
The idea is to start with Spiritomb and use “Darkness Grace” to level up your Magnemite to Magneton on the first turn and allowing you to keep your opponent in trainer lock. The Uxies are there for draw power, and Azelf for getting needed Pokemon out of the prizes. The ultimate goal is to attach Unown Q to your Spiritomb, and to bring out your Magnezone with a DCE, Lightning energy, and an Expert Belt doing 80 every turn with “Gyro Ball”, and keeping the opponent in trainer lock by switching Magnezone with Spiritomb.
Some of the more tricky parts to the strategy are the Magnezone and the Magnezone LV.X. Magnezone LV.X has an attack called “Cyber Shock” which requires that you discard a Lightning and Metal energy for 80 damage (100 damage with an Expert Belt) and the defending Pokemon is now paralyzed. This is a great attack, and the paralysis is an amazing bonus.
Now you might be thinking, “Why would I use that attack when I have to get rid of one half of the Metal energies in the deck?” Well the answer lies in Magnezone’s Poke-Power “Super Connectivity”. It allows you to get a Metal or Lightning energy from the discard and attach it to your active Pokemon while putting a damage counter on that Pokemon.
This means if you have a DCE and a Lightning energy, all you have to do is attach a Metal, and discard the Lightning and Metal for 80-100 plus paralysis. The only downside is that you cannot trainer lock them for one turn. During the next turn, attach a Lightning energy from your hand, and Super Connectivity the Metal back for another 80-100, or just get a Lightning energy for more Gyro Ball.
The Magnezone LV.X also has a Poke-Power called “Electric Trans” which allows you to move Lightning and Metal energies as often as you like during your turn. This can be very useful for getting out of precarious situations. It also can prevent Supper Connectivity from being power sprayed by keeping Spiritomb active. You attach the energy to the Spiritomb, it takes one damage, then move it to your Magnezone LV.X. Afterwards, free retreat the Spiritomb with the Unown Q. It is a very nice Poke-Power indeed.
Energy Trans can also move energies to Uxies that you wish to remove from the field. Move energy from an excess Magnezone, use “Psychic Restore”, and bring out Spirtomb to maintain the lock. It is useful against Machamp for a final kill and to recycle the Uxie.
Say that you have been using Gyro Ball for 80 a turn and have kept them in trainer lock. There are several good things about this:
1. They have a poor set up well because of the lack of trainers.
2. Their Pokemon are getting hammered.
3. You have been disrupting their hand with a heavy Judge line.
4. They are probably setting up their most powerful Pokemon on the bench.
This is where the Pokemon Reversals come in handy. You have a 50-50 chance of drawing out their important Pokemon and either doing solid 60-80 damage or 80-100 damage with paralysis.
This deck runs extremely well against SP decks due to the trainer lock. They are unable to Power Spray, attach Energy Gains, Poketurn, or use SP Radar. Its major weaknesses are BlazeChomp, Machamp, and Donphan; however, if you play it smart, you can have the Magnezone LV.X out for when they run Fighting decks, and just run the regular Magnezone for when they use a fire deck. That way, you can avoid the weaknesses that your Magnezones have.
Overall this deck is very powerful and has massive disruption. The Poke-Powers that Magnezone possesses are spectacular, and the attacks are top notch as well.
